It’s not “empathy,” as others have cried out for itt, its shame based religious zealotry. It’s absurd to do a one size fits all approach to addiction and chide others who don’t support such.
Different people have different experiences, triggers and could handle different levels of trauma. We should not put every addict in the same bucket. We shouldn’t tell every addict that one drink or bet will ruin their life. We should have more mental health professionals available to addicts and society in general. We should lead with compassion over shame so bad habits aren’t hidden.
Man…that’s pretty bad. I don’t know a whole lot about AA, but just the fact that they appear to make you pretty much obsess over your addiction 24/7 seems like a big negative to me.
A lot of people have their pet anecdote about an uncle or cousin or whatever where they swear AA (GA, CA, etc) saved those people’s lives supposedly but my homegirl didn’t develop a super serious addiction until she went to rehab and they rotted her brain with that nonsense.
Unfortunately AA is full of addicts who will take the program and use there own meaning to divert from the actual main guidance which is primarily a self help group.
I’m not a fan of the AA program in particular or rehabs that run with those programs either, Infact like you I’m against AA-Style because it is Infact addicts who run it.
What I’m saying is that for some people (giving that it’s their poison is what they try to avoid) that making a mistake and using again is not the end of the world and has never been the program in AA but will be used by humans to degrade other humans including but not limited to AA when that Infact is not the way imo that the steps/rules are interpretated, there should be no judgement of others 1st and that’s their rule, follow that and the abstince comes clear, we all make mistakes and no-one in AA should be judge for it, its a self help group and you should look for solutions and guidance not ridicule and for others to judge.
Opinions are not really for the room and should only be given out as an experience of how you acted/performed and if solutions where found then its to share to the room.
Every person’s journey in recovery is different and that is why I say its debunked also because there’s always someone who will ruin their life with just 1 relapse and we should encourage but not ridicule in every aspect of that person’s recovery.
Like every ascept of life too the programs change as they move around and this creates gaps and problems when addiction is at the forefront and has caused problems all over the world wrt and Anonymous program, which is why we have so many nowadays ranging from AA, CA, NA, FA + Others and splinter groups.
When Infact it’s all the same program of self help & recovery from addiction in being honest with yourself so as to find the triggers and lead a stable life.
Most recovering addicts I know live a simple life who like to give back into the community and not be seen doing so so as not to feel elated or have that rush of feel good etc, some are into sports in a big way and use their drive and energy for it, knowing that it can just as well be an addiction.
The principles that I know of are find a sponsor (A friend with good knowledge and similar experiences) and share with him your progress and he will share back his experience, if there similar then it can work, some people I know have more than 1 sponsor etc.
As a recovering addict said to me, if someone wants to judge me then that’s their problems, not mine and if they have a problem with my program then it’s also with there’s, always be cautious with whom you listen to and take recovery a day at a time to give yourself the time needed to find yourself again and don’t judge.
Addiction is so incidious that it will creep into every aspect of human life and the human brain is a very intelligent piece of muscle, but for some reason it can’t let go of addiction once it’s ingrained and so we will instinctively question everything an addict does or says once bitten and all in all its not a bad thing, this can subside and usually does as we move on, but the addicts brain will never forget, well that’s what the 30 year sober guys tell me, its never ever gone.
And so that revolving door so to say never stops but only subsides and somedays it can be the prominent voice even when the addict is sober, he will do things against his or the groups wishes, get a few of them in a room and it’s on too. Hence why groups split and AA etc turns into a cliche just like most all of human nature, its incidious.
I’m no academic 6ix or even a average writer, but I hope to have conveyed some meaning here as I’ve lived with addicts my whole life.
The people I know in recovery do just this… Everyone has their own path forward and alough somethings may seem the same to others their Infact not, as above recovery is indeed complicated and individual to every person.
Right, exactly, in terms of this thread if the guy doesn’t want to be in a vaccination lottery…
imagine going back in time and saying that phrase to somebody 5 years ago, “pandemic vaccination lottery”
…then he shouldn’t be in it. You have to take a leap of faith and trust that a specific addict knows themselves and what their triggers are. I’m speaking more in general. Of course an AA-style will work perfectly for some people, and for some it will be a total disaster.
This isn’t my final analysis, it’s my initial reaction before reading:
Lol how in the shit are you gonna do a thorough study on alcoholics ANONYMOUS?
The main reason the hate on AA started was due to the information age and enough people sharing anecdotes, wondering, “Ok guys, I know this is sacrilege, but has anybody noticed that AA doesn’t work for a whole lotta people and sometimes seems to actually makes things worse?”
Also (I did read the first paragraph), this wildly assumes the premise:
Alcoholics Anonymous, the worldwide fellowship of sobriety seekers, is the most effective path to abstinence, according to a comprehensive analysis conducted by a Stanford School of Medicine researcher and his collaborators.
A big part of the AA hate is for them assuming that abstinence is the ideal goal, like, stigmatizing people for having some incurable disease using pseudoscience.
My 1st advice would still be to phone the Anonymous hotline for your poison alcohol=AA Drugs=NA to be able to receive the best path forward and speak to an experienced trusted person from one of them and give the advice of if it does not work the 1st time to try and try again until you connect with the other person on the line.
Simply because here in the UK the other outlets are not so great at all, with complete lack of funding.
There’s also people on the methadone program who attend NA regularly all over the UK.
There’s a number of factors why I was told ranging from the cold turkey gets easier to it helps get them into a manageable position and helps in moving forward etc.
AA was also developed before we had a better idea on what causes addictions (Which is still not settled science)
Addictions are a response to suffering and what people need in response to addiction is not judgment and symptom control. They need to heal from their trauma.
Of course it’s overly general but it’s the first step towards not viewing addiction in the lens of addicts = LOL- sub human - lack of control - I’m better than them - character flaw - If their life is ruined it’s because they lack discipline.
It’s the first step towards being human.
Even this forums obsession on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of AA shows me that you all are just missing the point.
Same with obesity. It’s rooted in the same trauma.
I tend to think AA is a religious farce, but it does seem to help certain people, just like religion does. Even though I feel that way about it, I have a friend dealing with a severe alcohol problem and I would be so happy if he decided to start going to meetings. It’s filled with mostly well intentioned (albeit damaged) people.
I think in the absence of anything good people are setting up their own more welcoming/less intense groups. Something like oneyearnobeer.com obviously it’s a paid subscription because we live in late capitalist hell but the community aspect is really pretty strong.
For people outside the UK, FOBT’s are Fixed Odds Betting Terminals where you can place bets against the house computer in various games which the most popular is roulette.
They have basically ruined the local punters bookmaker experience and lots of women play these machines too.
